


don't you know that the kids aren't alright?

by bluesandbirds



Series: back in business [5]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Business Bay, Dream Smp, Family Dynamics, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Relationships, Pogtopia, TommyInnit gets a hug, l'manburg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27605303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds
Summary: "Tommy, anyone that touches you fucks with me."once, wisp made a promise to a kid with bright blue eyes and a grin like sunshine.now that that kid is older and out of sunshine, he fully intends to keep it.or: the finale but with special guest wispexe.
Relationships: Bitzel & LukeOrSomething & Time Deo & TommyInnit, Kit | Wispexe & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Series: back in business [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998283
Comments: 134
Kudos: 1011





	1. the walls kept tumbling down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _grey clouds roll over the hills bringing darkness from above_   
>  _but if you close your eyes..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title from "the kids aren't alright" by fall out boy  
> chapter title and summary from "pompeii" by bastille

There’s an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Everyone is cheering and laughing as they celebrate the end of a war and the inauguration of a new president. Sure, the battle was frankly underwhelming, but nobody's complaining. They won. They did it. 

But Wisp doesn’t feel it.

Tommy looks happy for the first time since Wisp’s seen him again. The weight of the world sloughing off his shoulders all at once.

He scans across the area.

Tommy’s “enemies” lounge casually at the edge of the path.

His allies are already at work dismantling the left-up decorations.

His gaze settles on Technoblade.

Technoblade who casually raises his weapon. The barrel of which is aimed at Tubbo.

Wisp's eyes widen.

He's moving before he can process it, mouth open in a warning shout. He barely makes it in time to throw himself at the boy. They tumble to the ground.

Firecrackers soar over their heads, crashing against the wall of the space station.

Once again, the festival grounds dissolve into long-coming chaos.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

“Woah, what?!”

“Technoblade!”

“The traitor!”

(The fireworks drown out the newest alert on everyone’s communicators.)

“Tubbo!”

He rolls off, checking the boy for injuries. He’s shaken, face frozen in shock, but Tubbo is smart and he puts together the sound of firecrackers and the bloodlust that lingered in Technnoblade’s eyes.

Wisp looks up.

Tommy is screaming at Technoblade who is screaming back.

Their netherite clad enemies charge after their allies with renewed vigor.

Technoblade points his crossbow at Tommy’s head, and Wisp thinks it’s time to keep a long abandoned promise.

He barrels into the man, not managing to knock him over, but enough to throw his aim off.

A firecracker bursts past Tommy’s head. A firecracker shot by his brother meant to land in Tommy’s chest.

Wisp leaps back at the man’s attention turns to him. “Tommy, run!” he shouts.

The Blade slams his fist into Wisp’s face and laughs.

Tommy looks dazed. His head swivels as he takes in how things could have gone so wrong so quickly. Suddenly, there’s realization in his eyes.

 _Wilbur,_ his mouth forms, sound disappearing to the battlefield.

First, Wisp feels it. How L’Manburg rumbles underneath his back. The rolling and shifting of the land.

He remembers what they said about broken men and 11 and a half stacks of TNT.

Technoblade walks calmly out of the grounds.

L’Manburg opens its maw and swallows itself whole.

-

_“Guys, this is Wisp. He’s an old friend. He’s here to help.”_

_Wisp gives a wave. “Hello.”_

_Quackity stares at him suspiciously. “Where did you find him?”_

_“In the forest. Like I found you.”_

_“Didn’t he betray you?” Tubbo says, “Back on SMPEarth?”_

_Tommy says through gritted teeth, “Not a good thing to bring up, Tubbo.”_

_“Oops.”_

_“Great, just what we need, another traitor,” Quackity says._

_“He’s here to help,” Tommy repeats, “That’s the only reason he’s here.” He sighs. “Look,_ we need friends right now more than anything. _We’re not exactly in the position to be turning people away.”_

_Wisp steps forward to speak for himself. “I get why, with my history, you’d be hesitant to trust me. But I’ve learned from my mistakes. I promise I’m here genuinely. I have no reason to betray you, and at this point, that just seems a little cheap. Please, just give me a chance?” He offers a charming smile._

_Tubbo shifts. “Do_ you _trust him, Tommy?”_

_Tommy looks at the older man. There’s a moment where he just stares, searching for something. Slowly, he says, “Yes, yes I do.”_

_Tubbo shrugs. “Good enough for me.”_

_Quackity sighs. “Fine,” he concedes, “we could use more men.”_

_Tommy looks at the final member of their group hopefully. “Niki?”_

_She eyes the newcomer with a piercing gaze._

_Finally, she says, “Of course.”_

-

They manage to stumble out of the ruin.

Tommy is physically fine but devastated.

Tubbo is limping and clutching on to Niki.

Niki’s crying, blood and tears trailing down her cheeks.

Fundy and Quackity hold each other up, knuckles white as if they’d collapse without the other there.

Next to him, Tommy lets out a choked gasp.

 _"Dad,"_ the single syllable falls desperate from his lips.

Wisp follows his line of sight.

There’s Philza and Wilbur Soot standing on a stone ledge.

Philza has a sword in his hand.

Wisp’s gut plummets.

He tries to step in front of Tommy, to block his view of something no kid should have to see, but he’s too late.

Tommy’s father plunges a sword into his brother’s stomach.

Wilbur Soot stumbles backwards off the platform and falls, falls, falls.

Everyone screams, but Tommy’s is the loudest.

Wisp grabs his hand and Tommy whips around. His gaze is wild and his breaths come quick and short.

“Tommy…” he starts, not even sure how to continue.

But the boy’s eyes widen and he’s wretching out of Wisp’s grip to push behind him.

A strangled “No!”

When Wisp turns, Technoblade, his old emperor, is standing in the wreckage, soul sand piled behind him. In his hands, he tosses back and forth a wither skeleton skull.

He’s shouting, some dramatic monologue Wisp can’t hear over the blood in his ears.

And then, he stops.

The hairs on the back of his neck stands up.

Slowly, the Withers rise over the remains of L’Manburg.

\---

_After the group disperses, Niki lingers behind. She waits until Tommy leaves Wisp to strike._

_She tugs on his shirtsleeve._

_Wisp turns with slightly widened eyes._

_“Wisp,” she says, all honey and sunshine._

_“Uh, yes?”_

_She leans in and there’s glint in her eye, the mark of someone who’s spent too much time around the Blood God. “If you ever hurt Tommy again. I will destroy you. Do you understand me?”_

_He gulps. “Understood, miss.”_

_Smile never faltering, she releases him and turns to go._

_“Niki,” Wisp says before she leaves. “Thank you, for looking out for him.” He shakes his head. “I was never much good at it. I’m glad someone here’s picking up the slack.”_

_Her sweet features turn melancholy. “I’m not doing much better, to be honest.”_

_He gives a gentle smile. “You’re doing more than you think. That kid’s only ever known war and chaos. People like me are poison for him. You’re just good.”_

_“I don’t think you’re poison. Maybe mistaken and misguided, but not poison.”_

_Wisp laughs a little. “A minute ago you were ready to take my head off.”_

_Niki shrugs. “I tend to see the best in people.” She inclines her head towards the exit. “Come on, Tommy is waiting.”_

_He takes her offered hand and they leave together._

_“I still stand my threat though.”_

_“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”_

-

L'Manburg dissolves into a symphony of explosives and screaming.

Wisp falls back on his oldest of instincts and starts swinging.

At the end of the world, he only has one concern. _Tommy._

He ducks under firecrackers and bolts searching for the boy.

When he finds him, that pit of dread in his stomach only grows. He's at the bottom of a crater, bleeding at his side, and staring out at the cataclysm. He's still.

Wisp cautiously approaches. When he gets a look at Tommy's face, he has to force himself not to flinch. Empty eyes, downturned lips, he looks miserably, utterly _hopeless_.

So Wisp falls back on instincts he'd thought he lost and gathers the boy into his arms and just holds him—war be damned—because this is a child and the world seems determined to take everything from him.

"I'm not done."

"I know."

"I'm never done."

"I'm here."

They untangle and crawl out of the crater, breaking the surface to see their friends deep into battle. Tommy, forever a commander of men, puts his brave face on and starts rallying the troops.

" _Everyone, we've gotta work together."_

It gets to the point where Wisp doesn't even know who's on their side, people he doesn't recognize raise their arrows to the beasts in the sky. 

He throws himself between Dream and Tommy, blocking the man when he tries to swing.

He narrows his eyes at him underneath his helmet.

Dream is good. Dream is really, really good. The only reason Wisp isn't a smear on the ground is because he's spent time under the Blood God too.

Tommy dashes through the corner of his vision.

It helps that he's also got something to fight for.

-

_Wisp rubs at his temples. “So, let me get this right. There’s a traitor—”_

_Tommy interjects, “It’s probably Technoblade.”_

_Tubbo nods. “It’s definitely Technoblade.”_

_“—that may or may not be Technoblade, the most powerful man on this server, and we’re going to war with an old man and a green man on the 16th." He turns to Quackity. "And you used to be married to the old man?”_

_Quackity winces. “It’s complicated.”_

_"Right... where did_ you _come from, exactly?" Wisp gestures towards Fundy who scowls._

_"I was spying on that old man. Finding out all of his many, many weaknesses and how to exploit them."_

_Wisp frowns._ _“I’m not gonna lie, Tommy, I don’t feel comfortable pulling up and stabbing some old dude.”_

_Tommy rolls his eyes. “He’s not actually old, he’s like 21.”_

_“We’re the same age,” Wisp says in offense._

_“Yeah, but he’s got a lot of conditions."_

_“So many conditions.”_

_"He's basically an old man."_

_Tommy eyes him warily like he's waiting for something._

_Wisp swallows his doubts and says, "Well, I like our odds."_

-

The Withers are defeated. By the power of friendship. The power of hope. The power of enchanted weapons gifted to them by a traitor.

Technoblade stands menacingly on the other side of a chasm, crossbow still loaded.

 _"There will be no new government today. It'll be over my dead body."_ And all of them know well, Technoblade never dies.

Philza is here, the specks of red on his clothes are a stark reminder of his first action on the server. (Withers don't bleed.)

 _Antarctic Empire reunion_ , he thinks bitterly.

Both sides loiter about uncertainly. _What now?_

Wisp eyes the netherite titans on the other side. Dream, stance relaxed and casual. Technoblade with another monologue on his lips. The miscellaneous goons and their viciously gleaming weapons. 

Wisp thinks about the helplessness on Tommy's face, the lack of _Tommy_ in his eyes, and decides _self-preservation be damned_ as he launches himself at the Blade.

An arm catches around his waist.

He, honest to god, snarls.

"Oookay," Philza says, pulling him back more for his sake than Techno's.

The Blood God just looks at him and _Wisp has always hated that fucking pig mask_.

Wisp sneers back because if Technoblade wanted to waste the energy killing him, he'd be singing songs with Wilbur Soot in hell.

He shakes his head and turns, signaling for Dream and the others to follow.

Tommy watches Technoblade walk away with heartbreak etched in his features.

The vulnerability lasts for a second until he realizes people are watching and the blanket of anger returns.

Philza starts to move forward, but Wisp catches a glimpse of the red on green and tugs him back.

_I've got this._

Pursed lips and furrowed brows, Philza nods and turns to their convening allies on the wooden path.

It's just him and Tommy in the crater.

He approaches slowly like one would a wounded animal.

"Tommy."

His eyes stay fixed out towards the land, taking in the wreckage. "Wisp."

Wisp looks with him.

Rivers overtaken flowered knolls. Missing chunks of land like some god took giant fistfuls out of the ground. A large pile of debris buried in which is a splintered frame that once held a book that started it all.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not over," Tommy says quickly, forcefully like he's trying to convince someone. "We can rebuild. We can do it together. We can come back. We always... we always come back."

"I believe you," Wisp says, "I'll do my best to help out, but the House of Dreams was basically the extent of my building prowess."

Tommy's head snaps towards him at that, blue eyes wide and watery.

“What?’ Wisp says teasingly, “You didn’t think I was leaving as soon as the interesting part was done, did you?”

He doesn't answer.

It takes a second for it to click in Wisp’s mind. The avoidant eyes, the careful distance, the brave attitude.

It takes a second for him to realize _oh,_ that's exactly what Tommy expected.

"Tommy." He places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes gently. "I’m not going anywhere.”

"How do I—how do I know you're not lying?"

_"Tommy, you're never gonna backstab me ever. Are you?"_

_"No. Never. I don't backstab people. I only get backstabbed."_

_"Shake on it. Shake on it right now. Tell you what, I shake your hand, you shake mine."_

He swallows. "I don't know how to make up for what I did. I don't know how to offer anything beside me being here. I could promise, but I don't know how much that means to you anymore."

Tommy takes a second to respond. He clears his throat. "Why?" he says.

Wisp makes a noise of confusion.

Louder, firmer, "Why did you do it?" Behind the anger and insistence there's pain. " _Why did you do it_?"

Wisp exhales bitterly. "I was young, I was stupid, I was selfish, I—"

"No," Tommy interrupts, "What—what did _I_ do? What do I _keep_ doing? _Why_?”

And Wisp's young, stupid, selfish heart splits down the middle.

“No, no, no no, Tommy." He reaches out but the boy flinches away. He shakes his head furiously. "It—it wasn’t you, Tommy, it was never you. It… it was us. Always us. It..." 

_“You know what Wisp did last night? Wisp betrayed me. So I would really—I, like, physically—_ psychologically _—I cannot have another betrayal. It will break me."_

"It's not your fault," he says, hoping he can convey everything he means into these words and hoping that Tommy will believe it.

He really wishes Philza would have let him at Technoblade.

There's a sniffle. A hitched inhale. 

His hands twitch to reach out, to comfort, but he forces himself still.

Tommy stands there unmoving, silent sorrow streaking down his face, and just staring at his country. Just mourning. A minute passes. Then two. Then three. Wisp waits with him.

Tommy takes a shuddering breath and Wisp can see the layers he builds over his emotions. He sees the soldier come out.

His back straightens. His chin lifts. Tears disappear with a steady swipe.

He spins on his heel and marches on, beckoning his friends to regroup.

Tommy speaks of rebuilding, of tomorrows, of hope. Of togetherness, and what they have left rather than what they've lost, and a tree that's significance is lost on Wisp.

But Wisp nods along and when he swears to follow this boy to the ends of the Earth, his fingers aren't crossed this time.

He came here for Tommy, and as long as he's willing to fight, Wisp is right by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11/19: i've edited a bit of this, mostly the end, because originally i was going to make it into another chapter but decided not to do that


	2. interlude: wilbur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> father to son

Set the scene. 

Wilbur in a room with a button. 

Lyrics to a song no longer sung emblazoned across the walls.

Enter, the father.

_Ph1LzA joined the game._

A stern voice. "What are you doing?"

Wilbur jumps, spinning around. "Phil?"

There he is, standing in the doorway of the hidden room. Signature green hat, no armor, no weapons. Just a sad, sad look.

"What are you doing?" he repeats.

Wilbur recovers quickly. "Do you know what this button is?"

"Uh huh... I do," Phil says in a measured tone.

"So you know what I need to do."

"I know what you want to do. What you're thinking of doing."

He catches the look on his father's face. "What, like you've never had an appreciation for destruction before?"

And Philza—Angel of Death, former world conqueror and war criminal—listens to an ensemble of destruction caused by his sons and shakes his head.

"Not like this."

Wilbur scoffs.

Phil continues, "You're really going to do this? To your friends? To your brothers?"

Wilbur rolls his eyes. " _My brothers_ ," he spits, "Always about my brothers." He paces the length of the room. _"What about my brothers? God,_ you don't even try to hide it." He throws his arms out with no regard for the space around him. "Techno's the favorite and Tommy's the youngest, so Wilbur—Wilbur can go fuck himself!"

"That's not what I meant," Phil says firmly. "You are the oldest. You are responsible. You were supposed to take care of them."

It's the wrong thing to say.

"I shouldn't have had to!" Wilbur shouts. A finger jabs forward accusatorially. "If you were here when it mattered instead of chasing some record or fleeting sense of adventure!" 

Phil swallows. "I'm here now."

Wilbur shakes his head. "Too little. Too late."

"If I've failed you, that's on me. Not on these people."

Wilbur huffs. "Believe me, it doesn't end with you."

He tells his father about the traitor, the first one, with the Final Control Room and the line that still echoes. The others with their ballots and damning decrees. The silent ones who plot against him in the shadows. The one he loved whose very existence is a threat.

In that room with the button, he speaks of lifetimes in no time at all. Time bleeds quickly in the room with the button.

He tells his father about the traitors and feels himself become one as he fires Chekhov's Gun.

Wilbur doesn't turn to look as his L'Manburg falls.

Time stops in the room with the button.

Ever the showman, Wilbur salutes the end.

He breathes a sigh of relief as others release agonized screams.

The room shakes and the ground sways. L'Manburg wails and trembles and dies.

Phil rushes forward.

"Oh my gods."

Wilbur feels a blast of heat on his back as the wall disappears.

Phil grabs him. "Fucking hell, Will." He pushes him towards the gaping wall. "Look what you've done."

Wilbur's face unfurls into bliss. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Trees snapped like toothpicks. Flooding water where the riverbank cracked open. A crater of dirt and cobble.

_"My unfinished symphony, forever unfinished!"_

He spares a glance to Phil.

Lips pressed tight and brow furrowed, his expression is reminiscent of the times when he'd catch Wilbur playing mean games with his younger brothers. Showing Techno how to run _social experiments._ Teaching Tommy to start illegal empires.

Like Wilbur is a little kid with his hand caught on the Dragon Egg.

"Do I disappoint you, _Dad_?" Wilbur asks. "Tell me that you're disappointed. Tell me that you hate me." He levels the other man with an unyielding stare. "Or tell me that you're proud."

Phil releases him and steps back. "I can't."

Wilbur laughs, unhinged and satisfied. He carelessly tosses his sword.

On instinct, Philza catches it.

_"Kill me, Phil."_

"What?"

"Phil, kill me. PHIL. KILL ME." The words bubble out of him, gleeful and desperate. "Phil, stab me with the sword. Murder me now. Kill me!" 

He shakes his head vigorously. "You're my son." And then again with more force, "You're my son!"

"Do it, Phil."

"No matter what you do—no matter what you've done—I can't..."

"Come on, Dad," Wilbur says softly, "do it."

Phil looks at his oldest son. His son who sent his little brother to war. Who turned children into soldiers. Who created only to destroy. Who destroyed himself.

Phil looks into cold brown eyes and makes a decision.

The sword goes in easily. Wilbur Soot's always been a man of words, not armor.

A chorus of screams from below. Only one registers for the dying man.

Blond hair. Blue eyes. A too big suit. Quick words. Persistent. Trying so hard. Endearing.

_"Hello? Who said this?"_

_"Ah, it was—it was me, Tommy."_

_"Hey, Tommy, welcome back."_

Time replays in the room with the button.

_"My right hand man: TommyInnit!"_

_"Tommy, I'm so fucking proud of you, bro."_

_"You're never gonna be president, Tommy."_

Wilbur pushes himself further onto his blade to whisper in his father's ear. "Forgive me?"

Phil withdraws his sword. "I love you."

As Wilbur stumbles back, he smiles. _"_ _Thank you."_

And then—like empires, and hopes, and stars—Wilbur Soot falls.


	3. i'd do it all again (i think you're my best friend)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they're gonna be just fine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from "the kids aren't alright" by fall out boy  
> i edited some, mostly the end, of chapter one so go reread that if you haven't already!!

Tommy's always had a thing for wrapping things up nicely. For themes and arcs. Maybe it's some of his brothers' showmanship rubbed off on him. Maybe it's his own need for happy endings.

So, when Tubbo pulls him away from the carnage towards their little bubble of safety, Tommy knows exactly what he wants to do.

TommyInnit's been naive, reckless, dumb, and impulsive. But TommyInnit’s never been predictable.

_“You know what, Dream, why don’t you listen with us?”_

Sunset and his best friend and _Blocks_. If he closes his eyes, they're freshly 14 again, unaware of how—in a few months—war will consume the best of their teenage years.

Dream sits next to him, netherite burning where it's pressed against Tommy's skin. He can't bring himself to care.

_"This is the start, Tommy. It may feel like the end, but this is literally just the beginning."_

The words might be encouragement from anyone else, but they come off as more of a threat from the man.

But it's okay because there's the sun and Tubbo and music.

Behind the bench, the rest of the stragglers from the battle have made their way up, everyone holding their breath in silent respect of a sacred ritual.

He thinks there's something poetic here, but poetry's always been more Techno's forte. 

Past Dream's head, he makes eye contact with Tubbo. He offers a smile.

_We've got this._

_You and me._

Dream breaks the moment. "Tommy," he says, "there's one more thing..."

And he pulls out his communicator, fingers flying across the screen of the device.

Tommy opens his mouth to ask, but is cut off by three alerts in quick succession.

His hand dips into his pocket.

_TimeDeo joined the game._

_Bitzel joined the game._

_LukeOrSomething joined the game._

All the breath rushes out of him at once.

"They really just let anyone on this server," Punz mutters somewhere at his back.

"They're not just anyone," Wisp says, grin audible.

(Somewhere, Technoblade looks at his communicator. He shakes his head and thinks something about history and rhymes.)

"Dream," Tommy says, turning to face the masked man, "Why?"

He shrugs. “I like seeing you try and come back from these things.”

_"_ Tommy. _I've never been on your team."_

“And besides," Dream says, “No matter what, _i_ _n the end, chaos wins_.”

Tommy looks at him for one long moment.

_"This is the redemption arc, Tommy, you're my friend now!"_

_"What, you're not just on my side for being my friend?"_

_“I have been given something that is more powerful to me than just friendship.”_

Then, he shakes his head—

_"No matter what happens here... it's me and you versus Dream."_

—and he lets go.

"Fuck you, green bitch."

Tubbo laughs delightedly and points behind him.

Tommy follows his finger.

Over the hill, three figures enter his line of sight.

Black eyes. A blue hoodie. A santa hat.

A grin splits his face. Tommy leaps up, breaking into a sprint.

He crashes into TimeDeo, who catches him like no time has passed at all.

_"Me and Deo, we flow very well together."_

There's Bitzel's hand on his back and Luke's head squeezed in by his shoulder.

"You're here," he says, words muffled in an orange shirt. "You're all here."

"Hell yeah we are."

_"The return of Business Bay."_

Luke pulls away first. "Not gonna lie, Tommy, this place is kind of a wreck," he says. He smiles warmly. "So it's a good thing I'm Business Bay's Head Builder."

Bitzel speaks up, “I don’t know what exactly you’ve got going on here, but it sounds like unfinished business.”

"Are you sure?" Tommy asks, looking around at his friends. "Because this isn't IceBomb or Kara Corvus or Bean York anymore."

Deo laughs. "Tommy, we went to war with god. And won. We fought Technoblade and came out alive. We're ready for anything."

Luke clasps his shoulder. “You said once, _Don’t betray the Business. We are a team and we’ll stay as a team. We’ll lose as a team or we’ll win as a team._ ” He nods. “We’re in this together.”

A fresh wave of tears sting his eyes, but they don't fall as Tommy nods back and guides them to the bubble with the bench where Tubbo, Wisp, Niki, Phil, Fundy, and Quackity wait. 

He passes Karl and Purpled who step back out of their way. Ponk tilts his head in acknowledgement. He thinks Sam smiles at him.

Dream is still there with the jukebox untouched.

 _Blocks_ serenades the moon.

And so, it ends the way it began. With discs, and Dream, and Tubbo, and TommyInnit. But it ends the way it will continue, with friends—old and new—and hope for the future.

All of them sit together on a bench too small, too brittle, and Tommy doesn't know what they're speaking, but it doesn't sound like violence.


	4. curtain call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you thought i would leave the symphony finished?

Tiny details slip from careless minds.

Such as a death notification assumed to be buried by ________ joined the game_ 's.

The truth is that there was nothing to bury.

Here’s the thing about a fire aspect sword.

Here’s the thing about cauterization.

Here’s the thing about men who just can’t seem to die.

Because—like his country, like Alexander Hamilton, like _Icarus_ —before Wilbur Soot fell, he **burned**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end  
> no more  
> suffer
> 
> for real, thanks for everyone reading this series, means a whole lot. sorry to leave you like this but i will be moving on to other works and series. this doesn't mean i'm done writing business boys, of course, it just means i'm pretty satisfied with ending the post-festival to war arc in this series.  
> shameless self-promo but if you wanted a nice, neat ending to a story, go read "when tomorrow comes" which closes out my festival series  
> and yes, okay, theres no way wilbur survives that, but this is minecraft roleplay fanfiction so he lived, bitch


End file.
